Dis-Chem ‘Look To Us’

For the Dis-Chem campaign, PCS was tasked with creating a piece of music rooted in South African cultural heritage. One that could tap into childhood nostalgia and the feeling of something passed down through generations. The creative brief called for a sense of homesickness and familiarity, which naturally led the search towards the intimacy of a lullaby.

Working closely with the creative team, Music Supervisor Katryn Nieuwoudt explored a number of musical routes, looking not only at how each option sounded, but at the meaning of its lyrics and how authentically it could connect with the brief. She presented a selection of options where both the musicality and lyrical meaning could carry that sense of memory, home and nostalgia.

This process led to “Tula Mntwana”, a traditional Xhosa lullaby passed down through oral tradition, with its composer credited simply as “Traditional”. Katryn then led the provenance and clearance process through the SAMAP archive (South African Music Archive Project) and the University of Pretoria’s South African Composers database.

A key part of establishing this provenance was a 1957 recording of “Thula Mntwana” preserved by SAMAP. Classified as an anthropological recording within the field of ethnomusicology, it documents the song as part of Southern African oral tradition and provided an important historical reference in confirming its traditional origins.

From there, the process moved from music supervision into re-imagination. Rather than licensing or sampling an existing recording, PCS created a new version from the ground up. Katryn worked with Senior Composer Ben Schutte to develop the re-creation, with Ben and vocalist Muneyi writing new lyrics that worked alongside the original song and its meaning for the brand campaign.

The recognisable base melody of the lullaby was retained so that it would resonate emotionally with South African audiences, while the new lyrics, arrangement, instrumentation, structure, tempo and dynamics were created specifically around the tone and pacing of the Dis-Chem campaign. Muneyi’s performance brought the piece to life, anchoring the emotional core of the track.

Before commercial use, Katryn conducted a thorough rights review, confirming that the core melody of the traditional song belongs to a non-copyrightable oral tradition and carries no third-party publishing claims. The new work was registered as “Derived from traditional South African oral folklore and regional ethnomusicological field traditions.”

The result is a piece of music that honours its cultural origins while standing as an original, freshly recorded re-creation. Researched, rewritten and created specifically for the Dis-Chem campaign.

Client/ Brand: Dis-Chem
Chief Executive Officer: Rui Morais
Chief Marketing Officer: Megan De Vroeg
Group Marketing Officer: Debra Anne Wells
GTM Strategy + Execution: Lauren Peters

Agency: M&C Saatchi Abel
Chief Creative Officer: Jake Bester
Art Director: Elouise Timmis
Copywriter: Bianka Wessels
Senior Broadcast Producer: Rochelle April
Business Director: Carmen Marais
Group Account Director: Thomas Campbell

Film Production & Crew
Production Company: Romance Films
Director: Emilie Badenhorst
Executive Producer: Helena Woodfine
Producer: Shannon McDougall
Director of Photography: Brandon Blight
First Assistant Director: Travis Nel
Creative Direction: Catherine Green
Production Manager: Liezl Joubert
Talent Coordinator: Dylanne Powell
Production Coordinator: Anja Van Zyl
Art Director: Chris Bass
Stylist: Lindiwe Mayisela
Key Grip: Thomas Wahl
Gaffer: Andre Beumer
Focus Puller: Ruan Barnard
Loader: Katlego Macheru
DIT: Nena Buchmann
VTO: Thando Ntombela
Make-up + hair: Tshepiso Sithole
SFX : JP Van der Merwe
Location Manager: Douglas Machogo
Casting Director: Marina Van Tonder
Lead actor: Carlo Mc Farlane
Lead actor: Donnell Bastew
Lead actor: Ayanda Dube
Lead actor: Mary Jane Mthmbu
Lead actor: Rebe Setlhako
Lead actor: Sechaba Ramphele
Supporting role: Jeanette Delaney
Supporting role: Thembekile Busanello
Supporting role: Aamir Butty Japal

Editing Company: Deliverance Post
Editor: Shelby Ncube
Visual Effects Person: Marco Raposa de Barbosa
Colourist: Nic Apostoli
Post Production Online : Deliverance Post
Post Production Offline : Deliverance Post

Sound & Music
Music Studio: Pressure Cooker Studios
Creative Producer: Astrid Iverson
Music Supervisor: Katryn Nieuwoudt
Traduitional Xhosa Lullaby: Derived from South African oral folklore
Re-recording composer: Elben Schutte
Vocalist: Muneyi
Voice recording engineer: Benjamin Barry
Sound Engineer: Hannes Burger
Final Mix Studio: (Not an IDIDTHAT member)

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